The Secretary of State’s Office denied several Libertarian candidates spots on the ballot because the United States Postal Service failed to deliver their consent forms by last Friday’s 5 PM deadline.

Most of the candidates filed consent forms and had them postmarked by Thursday September 14. According to postal employees next-day delivery is the standard in Vermont. Unlike private carriers such as Fed-Ex, the USPS won’t guarantee next-day delivery service, even for priority mail which at least one of candidate used.

Five of the original seven candidates the VTLP chose to focus on will remain on the ballot. David Atkinson and Hardy Machia will appear on the ballot as Libertarian/Republicans because they were able to drive the 1-2 hours to hand deliver their consent forms. Andrew Thomas also had his consent form hand-delivered, so he will appear on the ballot as a Libertarian. Liberarians Jeff Manney, Ben Todd, and Bob Wolffe will appear on the ballot as Republicans. Kevin Volz lost his primary. Due to USPS delay Tom Carpenter will not appear on the ballot, which means that Democrat Steven Howard will be unopposed in his State House race.

The VTLP decided not to pursue legal action, and instead decided to focus on getting our candidates elected.